Mum makes desperate plea to find missing daughter Sarah Cafferkey

THE mother of a missing 22-year-old woman has fought back tears as she appealed for help to find her daughter.

Police fear for the safety of Sarah Cafferkey, who was last seen at a friend's house in Bacchus Marsh on Saturday.

Ms Cafferkey's mother Noelle Dickson said she was worried her daughter, who suffers from a rare form of asthma, may be unwell.

Can you help? Anyone with information about Sarah, or her car, is urged to phone 000

"It's called acute bronchial spasms," Ms Dickson said.

"If she doesn't have her puffer ... and she doesn't get an ambulance to her she could die within half an hour.

"We don't know whether she's had an asthma attack or what's happened because no one has seen her, no one has seen her car and she hasn't used her phone. She hasn't accessed her bank accounts."

Ms Dickson saw her daughter last Friday at home. Police believe Sarah may have gone out with friends that night, but she has not made contact with her family for the past six days.

It's believed Ms Cafferkey visited a friend on Saturday afternoon but it is not known when she left her friend's house.

Police have asked people to watch out for her car, a silver 2001 Astra sedan with registration OOHSEZ on a pink background.

Ms Dickson said the disappearance was very unusual and Sarah would never normally leave her dog, Sprocket.

"She has a dog who is a black lab about 18 months old and she takes the dog with her everywhere - shopping at Highpoint, wherever," she said.

"She hasn't been (home) and so that tells me something's wrong with her. Something's definitely wrong because she hasn't been here for the dog ... the dog's distressed."

Ms Cafferkey has not been back to her part-time job at a hotel in Melton and hasn't contacted any friends.

Ms Dickson said family and friends had searched the local area while she waited anxiously at home for her daughter to call.

"All I do is basically man the phone and ... sit in her room and think what the hell has happened," she said.

Friends and family posted pictures of Ms Cafferkey on Twitter and Facebook this week in a bid to find her.

Her father, who lives in Queensland, also hasn't heard from her.

Ms Dickson said she was very concerned.

"(I heard) this car coming up the driveway with the music going and I thought 'Sarah's home, Sarah's home', and my heart nearly fell and of course I went outside and it was the young girl next door coming home," she said.

"I think that's when the reality hit that she hasn't come home."

Irish newspaper The Journal also reported on the disappearance as Ms Cafferkey has family from the country.

The newspaper said her grandfather was from Achill Island in County Mayo, a four-hour drive from Dublin.